Bryce Carlson and Janice Marchman vie for District B school board seat

By Alex Burness Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
09/05/2013 08:33:09 PM MDT

Bryce Carlson

Age: 31.

Occupation: Pastor.

Years lived in District B: 1.

In their words: "Student achievement really is the big thing I'd like to focus on. I recognize that I don't have all the answers to the problems yet, but at the heart of this I'm a concerned citizen and a parent. I love my kids and this community, so I'm committed."

Janice Marchman

Age: 40.

Occupation: Tutor (math, reading, science) and piano teacher.

Years lived in District B: 8.

In their words: "I want to run again because I love the kids in this district. Public education is very important to me, and I am very experienced with the district, as a parent and a volunteer in our community. What drives me, as always, is what is best for the kids.

Janice Marchman, Thompson School District Board of Education's incumbent District B representative, will be challenged for her seat in November's election by local pastor Bryce Carlson.

District B covers a relatively small area corridor north of 29th Avenue between Wilson and Lincoln avenues, and it comprises Lucile Erwin Middle School plus the trio of Centennial, Coyote Ridge and Laurene Edmondson elementary schools.

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Marchman assumed the seat after former District B representative Dennis Brietbarth died in 2010, then ran uncontested in 2011 for the right to serve the remaining two years of Brietbarth's term. She now serves as vice president of the board.

"The last three years have been very interesting," said Marchman, 40, who has an engineering degree and now works as a piano teacher and academic tutor. "When I came on the board, one of my main goals was to bring a parent voice to the board. I had always thought that there was a lack of communication happening between the district and the parents, and I would look at that as one of our biggest improvements."

Marchman, the mother of two Coyote Ridge students, says the district is helping address parents' wants and needs faster than ever, holding monthly stakeholder meetings and upgrading phone and email communication.

She hopes the district continues to improve relations with parents, as well as pool resources from churches, businesses and nonprofits, among other groups, to promote collaboration among the many Thompson residents invested in a strong education system.

"We are blessed to have an amazing community that creates quite a safety net," Marchman said. "What I'd like to see the district do is take a little bit of a facilitative role in bringing these organizations together and seeing what they can offer."

Granted another term, Marchman wants to see one of the state's most fiscally conservative school boards invest more in technology, such as iPads for students.

"Most publications are going to digital curriculums, so in order to be able to teach kids we are going to need to have tech devices they'll need to access their education," she said.

She said she hopes November voters focus on local issues.

"It seems like there is a political climate that exists around this election and elections across our state that seems to be wanting to switch directions, and I just think it's important that, as the stewards of our education system, we do what we want to do for our schools, and not some sort of nationalized agenda," Marchman said.

Carlson, 31, is banking on a "fresh approach" to win over voters. A worship pastor and co-founder at Loveland's Foundations Church, he's a self-described "servant leader" and thinks his outlook would translate well in a school board seat.

"The most effective leaders, in my opinion, are ones that have a strong sense of humility," he said. "That's really what I hope to bring to the board, a leadership style that is dedicated toward serving, and doing that with humility. Those are skills I've been able to develop because of my experiences working in the church."

Carlson says he was inspired to run largely out of concern for the school system that will soon include his children, a 3-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter.

"As our kids get ready to head into the public school system, we want them to have a really good, positive experience. By extension, we want all the families and kids in the district to have a really good experience. That's been the main motivation."

If elected to the board, Carlson promises to prioritize student achievement, albeit without what he sees as an increasingly widespread obsession over state testing results.

"Standardized test scores are important and they're good evaluations of performance, but I don't think it's the only thing we have to look at," he said. "I think the most valuable thing my educational experience did for me wasn't so much any kind of test score that I achieved or any real specific thing that I learned, but it was a real, overwhelming sense of preparedness for life and how to think on my own."

His approach to student growth starts with teachers.

"I think we have incredible teachers in this district. I know a lot of them personally, and I don't think there's anyone that understands the problems in our school district better than them. I'd like to sit down and really talk to them about the challenges and what their ideas are," he said.

Carlson is undaunted by his relative lack of experience with school matters, and says he's in a unique position to lend a voice to the board that is currently missing.

"My background is one that is fresh to the school board," he said. "I'd be the first to admit to everyone else that I'm not an expert. I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I am committed to working really hard and working alongside the teachers and administrators in the district."